Washington, D.C.

Google-DoubleClick deal draws regulators' attention

The Federal Trade Commission will likely consider privacy issues raised by Google Inc.'s proposed $3.1 billion acquisition of DoubleClick Inc. as part of its antitrust review, analysts said Tuesday.

Antitrust reviews generally focus on monopoly concerns. But there is precedent to address privacy worries, analysts said.

Ari Schwartz, deputy director of the Center for Democracy & Technology, a nonprofit advocacy group, said "the FTC has looked at consumer protection concerns in the context of a merger," citing the 2001 combination of AOL and Time Warner.

Soon after Google announced its plan April 13 to acquire DoubleClick, several consumer advocacy groups urged the FTC to investigate the privacy implications of the transaction. The groups said in their April 20 complaint that the two companies, when combined, would have access to an unprecedented amount of data on consumers' Web usage and search habits.

U.S. seeks to keep meatpackers from testing all for mad cow

The Bush administration said Tuesday that it will fight to keep meatpackers from testing all animals for mad cow disease.

The Agriculture Department tests less than 1 percent of slaughtered cows for the disease, which can be fatal to humans who eat tainted beef. But Kansas-based Creekstone Farms Premium Beef wants to test all of its cows.

Larger meat companies feared that move because, if Creekstone tested its meat and advertised it as safe, they might have to perform the expensive test, too.

A federal judge ruled in March that such tests must be allowed.

The ruling was to take effect June 1, but the Agriculture Department said Tuesday that it would appeal, effectively delaying testing until the court challenge plays out.

Netherlands

Royal Bank of Scotland-led group bids for ABN Amro

AMSTERDAM ABN Amro received an industry record takeover bid of $95.5 billion Tuesday from a group led by Royal Bank of Scotland PLC, but shares fell as the Dutch bank's earlier decision to sell its U.S. arm to Bank of America clouded prospects for a quick deal.

The offer by the RBS-led consortium of $51.59 per share, about 10 percent higher than the bid on the table from Britain-based Barclays PLC, is contingent on the LaSalle sale not going forward, and sets aside about $2.49 billion to pay potential claims or a settlement to BofA.

What will happen next depends on who acts first. The Netherlands' Supreme Court is to rule on an appeal against an order to freeze the LaSalle sale by early July. But with an offer from RBS on the table, ABN shareholders with at least a 10 percent stake could call for a meeting in six weeks to voice their preference on the LaSalle sale or either offer.

From wire reports